Modern food preparation often includes preparation outside of a typical kitchen environment. As such, techniques have been developed for food preparation at, for example, catered events. Similarly, modern beverage preparation also often includes preparation outside of a fixed-location bar. For example, at catered events, one or more temporary beverage preparation workstations typically include items routinely found at full-service bars.
Blended beverages require additional equipment, which typically require access to electricity. In temporary beverage workstations, access to electricity can dictate suitable locations to establish such temporary beverage workstations. Most typical temporary beverage stations can only accommodate a small blender, suitable for lower quantity production. Low quantity production can result in customers dissatisfied with long wait times.
Full fixed-location bars also frequently have a machine dedicated to make frozen beverages, especially margaritas. Temporary beverage workstations at events where high margarita consumption is expected typically do not include a dedicated margarita machine. Instead, typical setups use pre-made margaritas stored in a cooler or other container.
But storing margaritas (and other frozen/blended beverages) makes the beverage quality and consistency difficult to maintain. For example, in some cases, the alcohol does not get mixed properly with the other beverage components. Further, in some cases, the frozen and less-frozen parts of the mixture do not blend well together and tend to separate in storage. Poorly blended drinks can result in dissatisfied customers.
In some cases, temporary beverage stations include portable margarita machines. But typical portable margarita machines are bulky, difficult to use, consume a lot of electricity, and are expensive. Moreover, non-commercial uses are usually cost-prohibitive.